Nearly a year after the fall of the Assad regime, some in SDF-held northeastern Syria await a “liberation” of their own amid an uptick in arbitrary arrests, including for supporting the new government.
In northeastern Syria, a growing community of artists—dancers, musicians, filmmakers—fights to preserve the region’s diverse heritage and sustain more than a decade of cultural revival.
More than a month into the academic year in northeastern Syria, students enrolled in a number of schools remain locked out of their classrooms as a years-long struggle continues over what and how students learn in areas held by the SDF.
Diminished by drought, the olive harvest is underway in Syria’s Kurdish-majority Afrin. Residents report fewer violations than in years past, but remain wary of the new authorities.
A ceasefire halted clashes between Syrian government forces and the SDF in two Kurdish-majority neighborhoods of Aleppo city this week, but the outburst of violence highlighted how far the two sides are from implementing stalled integration agreements.
Planned talks between the AANES and Damascus were postponed this week, while efforts to implement the March 10 agreement remain slow and complex. Two separate delegations from the northeast aim to negotiate, while Damascus still rejects decentralization.
Long-suppressed by the Assad regime, the Kurdish language underwent an educational and cultural revival in Syria over the past decade. In the new Syria, its speakers refuse to lose ground and are fighting for recognition.
An SDF-Damascus agreement is underway in Aleppo’s Kurdish neighborhoods, which could serve as a proving ground for the success of a broader agreement in northern Syria.
Syrians welcomed news of a landmark agreement to integrate Kurdish-led forces into state institutions on Monday, hoping it would prevent bloodshed and prevent any partition of the country, while “the devil is in the details” of its implementation.
Little has changed for Afrin’s Kurds, despite Damascus’ security forces entering on February 7. Violations persist, with returnees finding fighters or civilians occupying their homes and demanding hundreds of dollars to leave.
